These are mostly poorly educated or mentally handicapped people
Nonsense.
In fact, grifters will tell you that educated people are much easier to grift because they think they’re too smart to be scammed.
There’s a reason why Jack Abramoff was able to con so many rich people out of their money and why smart people end up in cults.
Even smart people who aren’t in cults can believe very silly things, as silly as what SovCits believe. Linus Pauling thinks vitamin C is a panacea. Ray Kurzweil thinks he’ll be able to upload his brain to a computer in 10 years and has thought so since the 1990s. Bobby Fischer thinks Jews control the world.
Ray Kurzweil thinks he’ll be able to upload his brain to a computer in 10 years and has thought so since the 1990s.
Kurzweil fervently wishes he’ll be able to do this; existential angst drives many people, uneducated or not, to all sorts of religions. At least Kurtzweil is making educated guesses based on technological progress - wrong guesses, but still within the realm of reasonable.
There’s no mysticism to the singularity. There’s nothing preventing what he hopes for except engineering sophistication. We know most of the what, and maybe even a good chunk of the how, and we’re making progress. Nothing in the idea of brain uploading depends on an ineffable spirit, or anything we can’t already prove.
If we don’t destroy ourselves or the planet, there’s no reason we won’t get there eventually. Just not soon enough for Ray or his loved ones, and probably not in time for anyone currently alive. It’s not likely we’ll never achieve it simply because we burn up the planet first, and run out of resources to continue frivolous research like immortality.
Sure; I’m not saying you’re wrong. Ray is unrealistically optimistic, and his predictions are heavily dependent on several iffy factors: that we’ll create GAI; that it’ll be able to exponentially improve itself; that it’ll be benevolent; and that it’ll see value in helping us obtain immortality, and decide that this is good for us.
I just don’t think it’s fair to lump him in with SovCits and homeopaths (or whatever Linus Pauling is). He’s a different kind of “wrong”; not crazy or deluded, just optimistic.
Just because you can find examples of educated people falling for grifts doesn’t mean most people who fall for grifts are educated. Frankly, it’s absurd and completely counterintuitive. You would have to show me some hard data to prove that correlation.
Yes, we’re both making claims and using anecdotes to support them and it seems neither of us will move from our positions without stronger evidence. Your claim that most sovcits are either wealthy or educated seems absurd to me, so in a data-poor environment I’m sticking with the simpler of the two options. I’m open to changing my mind, but not with only anecdotes. If you could make a logical case for why sovcits would be mostly educated or wealthy then that could be enough, given neither of us have hard data to give.
Nonsense.
In fact, grifters will tell you that educated people are much easier to grift because they think they’re too smart to be scammed.
There’s a reason why Jack Abramoff was able to con so many rich people out of their money and why smart people end up in cults.
Even smart people who aren’t in cults can believe very silly things, as silly as what SovCits believe. Linus Pauling thinks vitamin C is a panacea. Ray Kurzweil thinks he’ll be able to upload his brain to a computer in 10 years and has thought so since the 1990s. Bobby Fischer thinks Jews control the world.
Kurzweil fervently wishes he’ll be able to do this; existential angst drives many people, uneducated or not, to all sorts of religions. At least Kurtzweil is making educated guesses based on technological progress - wrong guesses, but still within the realm of reasonable.
There’s no mysticism to the singularity. There’s nothing preventing what he hopes for except engineering sophistication. We know most of the what, and maybe even a good chunk of the how, and we’re making progress. Nothing in the idea of brain uploading depends on an ineffable spirit, or anything we can’t already prove.
If we don’t destroy ourselves or the planet, there’s no reason we won’t get there eventually. Just not soon enough for Ray or his loved ones, and probably not in time for anyone currently alive. It’s not likely we’ll never achieve it simply because we burn up the planet first, and run out of resources to continue frivolous research like immortality.
I realize it’s not mysticism. But it is believing something silly considering he’s been saying it’s just around the corner for decades now.
Sure, maybe one day it will happen. But it’s like space colonies or everyone using flying cars. It’s always going to happen in the near future.
Sure; I’m not saying you’re wrong. Ray is unrealistically optimistic, and his predictions are heavily dependent on several iffy factors: that we’ll create GAI; that it’ll be able to exponentially improve itself; that it’ll be benevolent; and that it’ll see value in helping us obtain immortality, and decide that this is good for us.
I just don’t think it’s fair to lump him in with SovCits and homeopaths (or whatever Linus Pauling is). He’s a different kind of “wrong”; not crazy or deluded, just optimistic.
Just because you can find examples of educated people falling for grifts doesn’t mean most people who fall for grifts are educated. Frankly, it’s absurd and completely counterintuitive. You would have to show me some hard data to prove that correlation.
I gave you multiple examples of the most prominent sovcit cases elsewhere.
Examples are anecdotes.
You mean like “I’ve known several” except with actual names and details?
But I am really amused that you are demanding data when you never provided any for your initial claim or any subsequent claims.
Physician, heal thyself.
Yes, we’re both making claims and using anecdotes to support them and it seems neither of us will move from our positions without stronger evidence. Your claim that most sovcits are either wealthy or educated seems absurd to me, so in a data-poor environment I’m sticking with the simpler of the two options. I’m open to changing my mind, but not with only anecdotes. If you could make a logical case for why sovcits would be mostly educated or wealthy then that could be enough, given neither of us have hard data to give.